Want a quick test to know if you can run a business with your partner?

Do a house project together.

Megan and I tested this theory for years before launching RedTale. Not intentionally. We were just trying to change ceiling lights and assemble IKEA furniture like a normal couple.

But looking back at all these little house projects, there’s something decently important that stands out.

Try installing a ceiling light with your arms above your head for two solid hours. Or putting together a thousand-piece bunk bed where none of the instructions make sense. Or any random project where someone needs to hold the thing while the other person screws it in.

Getting through that without wanting to kill each other? Well, you might have something.

What the “Test” Shows

House projects didn’t create our ability to work together.

They simply revealed what was already there. We like being around each other.

Sounds simple, sure. But it might just be the whole entire point.

When you genuinely like+love someone, you’ve already decided the relationship matters way more than whatever frustrating task you’re trying to solve in the short term.

The ceiling light wobbling and not attaching correctly isn’t worth making this person dislike me. So it means accessing patience I wouldn’t have with a stranger. Finding humor instead of frustration and deferring to their experience when they know more than I do.

Megan worked with her contractor dad and understands how to use quite a number of tools. I have experience in welding and carpentry. We each bring different skills, and we actually trust each other to use them. House projects are no match for us.

That foundation transfers directly into business.

How It Shows Up

Early on in our relationship, Megan and I developed rules for disagreements.

No yelling. No cursing. Only bring up what’s happening right now, not things from the past, or fight/worry about hypothetical things. If you break the rules, you automatically “lose” and have to apologize.

It’s like this formal but not-really-formal thing, and it works.

Those same rules show up in how we work with clients.

These are kind of obvious, but it’s worth saying just in case. I wouldn’t raise my voice at Megan, so I don’t raise my voice with clients. We don’t accept yelling from each other, so we don’t accept it from others either.

You can’t get good creativity with bad conditions.

We’ve walked away from projects where things were overly demanding, too negative, too disrespectful. If we don’t accept that behavior inside these four walls, why would we accept it in business?

Good work requires good conditions. Trust. Respect. Room to think and create without someone breathing down your neck.

A Family Business

When people hire RedTale, they’re not just hiring an artist or a facilitator.

They’re hiring a family business. A creative team that treats each other well and brings that energy into every project.

Years into this, it’s obvious how people respond when they see a functional partnership. They’re pleased when they can tell two people genuinely like working together and aren’t just tolerating each other for a paycheck. That’s great feedback for us, too.

The intangibles matter. The values you have at home show up in your work, whether you realize it or not.

What Conditions Are You Creating?

The house project test isn’t really about home renovation skills or a certain brand of tools.

It’s about whether you sincerely like the person you’re working with. Whether you’ve built something that can handle frustration, disagreement, and two hours with your arms above your head without everything falling apart.

That foundation matters more than any business strategy.

For us, it means we can weather difficult projects, demanding clients, and the regular stress of running a small business without destroying what we’ve built together.

Some days the work is hard. Things are challenging. The timeline is tight.

But we still like each other at the end of the day.

That might be the whole business plan.

Grateful you are here,

Wade